Introduction to the Domain Name System

Q: So what is DNS, and what exactly is going on when I mask my domain? (And why are these instructions so complicated?)

DNS stands for Domain Name System. This is an Internet service that translates between human-readable domain names like "www.google.com" and machine-readable IP addresses like 209.85.171.99.

Explained in a Metaphore:

DNS can be considered something similar to a phone book. When you move from one location to another, your name stays the same, but your phone number may change. In order to point your name to the new phone number, you must contact the telephone service provider so they assign you the new phone number and update all directory information to reflect you as pointing to this new phone number.

In this way, the IP address can be compared to a phone number: When someone calls "example.com", your ISP (Internet Service Provider) looks at the DNS server, and asks "how do I contact example.com?" The DNS server responds: "It can be found at 198.105.232.4". As the Internet understands it, this can be considered the phone number for the server which houses the "www.example.com web site.

For sub-domains, think of it like having an extension system at an office. There is one main number to the office (example.com) but there might also be extensions (video.example.com). When you create a CNAME for a sub-domain, such as video.example.com, you are creating an extension that points to your Magnify channel.

Explained More Technically:

When someone types a domain name such as www.example.com into their web browser, their computer needs to convert that into an IP address such as 208.70.246.59 in order to contact the appropriate Internet server.

To do so:

1. The browser asks a piece of software called a DNS resolver to look the address up.

2. The resolver asks a special set of root name servers for information about example.com, and they tell it which name servers to use for that domain.

3. Then the resolver asks that specific name server about www.example.com, and the name server sends back an IP address.

4. The web browser then uses this address to connect to the right web server and request web pages.

Domain name setup requires these four steps:

1. Domain Name Registration

To get your domain name listed in the root name servers, you pay a domain name registration fee to a registrar. (Cost anywhere from $10-$60/year.)

The registrar then arranges for your domain to be listed in the registry, which is pushed out to the root name servers for the top level domain name (.com, .org, etc.) you've chosen.

If you've already registered a domain name, you can skip this step.

2. Designating Your Name Servers

Every domain name needs two (or more) name servers that will service it.

The registrar is the place where you specify which name servers will be associated with your domain name. You may pick your name servers when you first register your domain, or return to the registrar later to change them as needed.

If you already have a name server set up (preferably one with a simple web-based management console), you can skip this step.Note that Magnify does not act as a name server -- you will have to get this service somewhere else! Some registrars, such as Go Daddy, will both register your domain name, and act as your name servers, which is convenient. Larger companies may run their own name servers themselves. If you have an IT department, please contact it. If you registered your domain name with a registrar that does not act as a name service, you can buy this as a stand-alone service for less than $25 per year.

3. Name Server Configuration

There are two types of domain name records we'll be talking about for Magnify Channels:

- Alias or "CNAME" record, pointing to a domain name at Magnify, live.magnify.net.

- Address or "A" record, pointing to an IP address at Magnify, 208.70.246.59.

Domain making can be done with either kind of record.

The typical deciding factors are as follows:

- We generally recommend CNAMEs because if you use A records, in the rare event that Magnify needs to change the numeric IP address associated with your site, we will need to ask you to change your A record at the same time to avoid an interruption in service, whereas CNAME records will automatically update on their own. (Not that this happens often; over the last two years, we've only needed to do this one time.)

- However, if you want to use the web address http://example.com, without the leading www. prefix, your nameserver software will probably require you to use an A record.

Therefore, there are two standard scenarios shown in the examples below:

- If you're using Magnify as a subdomain, like video.example.com, and hosting your main www.example.com site elsewhere, use a CNAME.

For step by step instructions, click here.

- As your main web address, including example.com without the leading www, use an A record for the domain name root address, and use a CNAME for www.

For step by step instructions, click here.

4. Channel Configuration

After making changes at your name server, you need to configure your Magnify channel to recognize the new address and associate it with the rest of your Magnify-hosted information.

Go to your Magnify channel and go into site admin → Change name or web address → and type your new custom URL underneath "Custom Domain Alias" and click the "Save" button at the bottom of the page.

However, please note that domain name changes can take a while to propagate across the Internet (due to multiple levels of caching), so you may have to wait a few hours for the new address to be visible to our servers and to end users.

If you get a message on the channel admin page saying that the new address could not be accepted (exact wording?), it could be because the old value of your name has been cached, and you have to wait until the new value is loaded.

Similarly, if your web browser continues to send you to an old web server, or report that the name you just defined does not exist, you may simply have to wait a few hours for the new name to become visible.

For more information, please see the Wikipedia page on DNS.

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